UM alumnus Xavier Cortada (AB '86, MPA '91, JD '91)has created art installations at the North Pole and South Pole to address environmental concerns at every point in between. The Miami artist has been commissioned to create art for the White House, the World Bank, Miami City Hall, Miami-Dade County Hall, Florida Botanical Gardens, the Miami Art Museum, Museum of Florida History, Miami Science Museum, the Frost Art Museum, and CERN. Cortada has also developed numerous collaborative art projects globally, including peace murals in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, child welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama, AIDS murals in Switzerland and South Africa, and eco-art projects in Holland, Hawaii and Latvia and Taiwan.

"Earlier in the day, renowned Miami artist and three-time UM alumnus Xavier Cortada, B.A. ’86, M.P.A. ’91, J.D. ’91, will unveil a three-piece art panel installation titled ‘Flight of the Ibis,’ which he created specifically for the Student Activities Center. Each panel measures 15 feet by 10 feet and features a series of stylized ibises – the University’s mascot – along a backdrop of abstract mangrove roots."